This keyway plug and extractor relates to safe deposit locks like that of U.S. Pat. No. 1,431,381, and more specifically to self serve safe deposit locks. Over the past few years financial institutions have been eliminating the Safe Deposit Attendant position. One of the functions of the attendant was to insert the “guard key” in one side of the safe deposit lock and the customer would insert their “customer key” in the other side of the lock. Turning both keys would retract a bolt allowing the lock to open. With the introduction of self serve safe deposit locks the guard side of the lock has been eliminated. The only key required to open this lock is the “customer key”. The customer can now access their safe deposit lock by themselves.
There are occasions when the financial institution has to deny access to the safe deposit lock. Some examples of these denials include; the possibility of someone obtaining the safe deposit key fraudulently, possibly a court order to seal the safe deposit lock, or possibly the rent not being paid, just to name a few.
The safe deposit keyway plug which we invented will solve each of these scenarios by preventing the safe deposit key from fully entering the lock. A keyway plug is inserted into the keyway of the lock and then can be removed with the plug extractor by an employee when the situation has been rectified.
There is a device shown in FIGS. 9 & 10 that has been used to block the keyway. This device can be hard to insert into the lock and can be broken by twisting the padlock thus breaking the device. It also is not aesthetically pleasing and creates unnecessary questions to the management.